Cops In Saint Louis (St. Louis, University City: crime rate, attorney, home) - Missouri (MO) - City-Data Forum

Hephaestus · 04-12-2009, 03:11 PM

I am starting this thread to exercise my first amendment freedom to comment about the cops in St. Louis. I have had several pretty ugly situations in the last two years with the cops here in St. Louis. I would be interested to hear about your thoughts. It must be difficult to be a cop, particularly in Saint Louis where the crime rate is so high. I will say, though, that I have witnessed a litany of very unprofessional behavior on the part of cops since I moved down here.

CoffeeAndBeer · 04-12-2009, 07:41 PM

Do you live in the City of St. Louis? (metropolitan police department)

I have never had an issue with them, they have their work cut out for them and I think they do a good job considering. Now, some of the inner (and even outer) suburban municipalities are a different story...they really should be under jurisdiction of St. Louis County PD. University City PD is a huge exception, they are a great force.

aragx6 · 04-13-2009, 08:35 AM

You know you don't have first amendment rights on a privately run forum on the internet right? Just like how Best buy doesn't have to allow you to hold a protest in their store.

That said, I've never had any trouble with metro police. In fact, I probably should have been arrested one night for being unbelievably, ridiculously wasted on the street, but the cop just made sure I had folks getting me home safely and left us to go on our way.

Hephaestus · 04-13-2009, 12:55 PM

Yeah, I suppose whoever owns this cite can take down anything that I might say on his/her own discretion.

I know that I have personally had several circumstances where the cops were behaving in a really unprofessional manner. I am certain that if I would have brought up a police brutality complaint in one particular circumstance, I would have (or at least should have) won. I had another circumstance where a cop told me a long story about how he used to trade favors for sex.

I never had a serious problem with cops in Illinois. Overall, I get a little tired of the 'yes sir, no sir' speech that they put you through if you roll a stop sign. That is a separate criticism.

It is true that cops have a lot of work cut out for them, particularly in St. Louis. I had a much more serious situation where I was held at gunpoint, and the cops responded professionally.

I read an interesting statistic that in 2006, 300 police brutality complaints were on file in Saint Louis, but there was not one instance where any one police officer served as a witness or said anything that might shed bad light on another officer. That is a little unsettling to me.

I don't hate cops, but now that I am nearing 40 years old, lets just say that I don't take their words or actions as gospel. I don't think that the culture of policing in Saint Louis is particularly healthy either. Since moving from Chicago, I have noticed a distinct lack of maturity among the police on a number of occasions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aragxs

That said, I've never had any trouble with metro police. In fact, I probably should have been arrested one night for being unbelievably, ridiculously wasted on the street, but the cop just made sure I had folks getting me home safely and left us to go on our way.

Did you know that there is no 'drunk and disorderly' in Missouri? Missouri has among the most liberal drinking laws in the United States.

aragx6 · 04-13-2009, 02:04 PM

Wait you lived in Chicago and have problems with St. Louis cops? I'm sorry if that's been your experience, but I think most have had the exact opposite problem. Chicago cops are beyond famous for their brutality and general douchey-ness. I had a terrible incident on a Metra train last year with a power-happy cop.

Hephaestus · 04-13-2009, 02:47 PM

Yes - I have definitely had exactly the opposite problem. I lived in Chicago for about 10 years, and I never had a significant problem with a cop. I have lived in St. Louis for 2 years, and I have had at least 5 incidents where the cops have been major douche bags.

Now don't get me wrong, I have been summarily lectured by Chicago cops before, but I was at least in the wrong. There are extra-causal factors, such as my age, and what I am now doing puts me in a situation where I have more contact with cops and 'the hood.'

I do think that Saint Louis needs a police brutality watchdog group, because there is a lot of police activity going on, and I wonder if it is going unchecked.

Do you enjoy living in Wicker Park? I used to live on the corner of Damen and Fullerton, just North of there.

aragx6 · 04-13-2009, 03:14 PM

I live right at six corners in the heart of WP and really like it -- so much to do. The neighborhood is just too darn expensive for what you get -- I work out in the southwest suburbs so my options of neighborhoods are pretty limited -- I think we'd live in Roscoe Village or Lincoln Square if we had our pick.

I can't think of any recent issues with police brutality in St. Louis that made the news other than this issue in the jails: 03/24/2009 - ACLU report charges abuse at two St. Louis jails - STLtoday.com (http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/56439903D26CEF2386257583006CE852?OpenDocument - broken link)

Not sure if that means it goes unreported or if it's just not all that common -- I feel like I can't read the Chicago trib without reading of some incident or another. I'd rather not get into the personal details of my incident, but suffice to say it wouldn't have happened to me had I been a man, and as someone raised by a law enforcement officer, I have to say it forever colored my impression of police and has made me a LOT less trusting.

Hephaestus · 04-14-2009, 12:06 PM

I am a 39 year old male. My father was in the criminal justice business as well - he was an appellate court judge. He actually gave a guy the death penalty. He was the State's attorney of DuPage county - i.e., he was a prosecutor.

There are a lot of cops in the world. There are good ones and bad ones. Sometimes there are a few bad or incompetent cops, and sometimes you can detect a couple of items in the culture that are worth criticizing.

You have civil liberties, and as I get older I tend to start questioning some latent dispositions that exist in the culture. I typically tend not to be someone that 'just doesn't get' why there are rules in the world. As I get older, however, I have become increasingly suspect of people that like to go on power trips, no matter what their position in the world. As Mr. Brady said, 'calm cool reasoning' is what elicits the best response from people.

Fishtacos · 04-14-2009, 01:59 PM

And I've lived a block North from Damen and Division. Well isn't this nice and full circle. That SW burb commute can't be much less than an hour one way on a good day. ...but yeah you are definitely shaving about 30 minutes off by living in Wicker Park instead of the North Side, just to get to the highway.

St. Louis needs more cops and better programs targeting crime.

aragx6 · 04-14-2009, 02:40 PM

So funny that you lived so near where I do now! Thankfully I can commute out there on the Stevenson as opposed to the Ike, which is way way worse.

Most days its between 40minutes and an hour and five minutes. This winter we had a evening rush hour snow storm and it took me four hours to get home. I wish that was a joke.